"Fuse!"
Gu Yuena waved her hand, and Xu Lanqing, who lay on the ground, rose into the air. She pressed her palm against his chest again, sending Soul Power into him to draw out the seven-colored energy lingering in his body. A brilliant, multicolored glow burst forth.
"Shhhh~~"
The moment the purple covering his body touched the seven-colored light, it retreated as quickly as snow melting in spring. In no time, the multicolored glow had completely taken its place.
Gu Yuena studied Xu Lanqing's face. What she had done just now was merely the simplest way to suppress the power of the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon. With the Dragon God's power, any dragon beneath the Dragon God could be suppressed with ease.
The hardest part was figuring out how to destroy its Remnant Soul.
The soul had always been a person's most precious part. No matter how powerful the body was, if the soul died, all that remained was a walking corpse.
She drew a deep breath. Purple light swirled in her eyes as she extended a jade-white index finger and gently touched Xu Lanqing between the brows.
The instant Gu Yuena's finger made contact, the twisted expression on Xu Lanqing's face quietly relaxed. His furrowed brows smoothed out as well.
Inside Xu Lanqing's Sea of Consciousness, the seven-colored mental barrier was on the verge of collapse. Countless cracks had appeared across it, and the largest stretched almost from one side to the other.
That's right. The mental barrier not only imprisoned Xu Lanqing; it also protected him.
Outside the barrier, the deep-purple Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon circled through the air, its body wreathed in intense power of Destruction. Suddenly, it stopped its relentless assault.
Gu Yuena's mental form had appeared right in front of it, and the mental barrier it had nearly broken through was already rapidly restoring itself.
Gu Yuena's spiritual power swept across the pale-gold Sea of Consciousness. The white flames from before had vanished, leaving only the Golden Dragon King's God Core. Xu Lanqing himself was nowhere to be seen.
But he had to still be in there. With the mental barrier in place, he couldn't have gotten out.
Gu Yuena felt conflicted. He must be fusing with the Golden Dragon King's Godhead inside the God Core.
"Roar—"
The Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon roared at Gu Yuena, unleashing a frenzied assault with its soul power brimming with Destruction.
Gu Yuena gathered her thoughts. The purple light in her eyes shone brighter than before as she focused all her attention on directing her invisible spiritual power into waves. She sent them surging toward the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon without yielding an inch.
All rivers flowed into the sea, never to return east.
The fierce onslaught met powerful resistance. For a time, neither side could gain the upper hand.
Battles of the soul were perilous beyond measure. The invisible torrents of spiritual power crashed against one another in complete silence.
As time passed, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon continued roaring. It was like a duckweed with no roots; the longer the battle went on, the worse its position became.
In Gu Yuena's deep eyes, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon's helpless rage was reflected.
The next moment,
she unleashed more power than ever before, sending an even greater torrent crashing toward the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon.
The Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon was swept away. For a moment, it was as though a river had reversed course, and its forces scattered in disarray.
"I refuse to accept this!"
Its resentful roar echoed through the space:
"The Dragon God killed me back then, and now you're going to kill me too. If that's how it is, then we'll all die together!"
Its immense spiritual power rapidly drew inward. A terrifying explosion would follow. Driven to despair, it had gone completely mad.
Gu Yuena bit her lower lip. Just as she'd feared, it had come to this. Their strength was about equal, and whether or not she tried to stop it, its desperate last attack would be terrifying.
She could retreat now and save herself, but Xu Lanqing would be doomed to die without a trace.
What should she do? Give up, or take a gamble?
Her brows knitted together. For a moment, she couldn't decide.
Suddenly, an idea flashed through her mind.
She stopped paying attention to the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon and turned toward the Golden Dragon King's God Core. At this point, she couldn't afford to worry about whether she might hurt Xu Lanqing's soul. Staying alive came first.
Soon,
she found Xu Lanqing, unconscious. Without hesitation, she stepped forward, wrapped her arms around him, and closed her eyes.
Their souls embraced, their auras linked.
Their auras continued to rise and transform, and a strange presence filled the space. The next moment, a point of nine-colored light appeared where their foreheads touched.
Then,
the phantom of a figure clad in a nine-colored robe appeared behind them. The figure was overbearing, unmatched, and inspired an irresistible urge to submit.
The nine-colored light spread outward, engulfing the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon in an instant.
The Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon's mental form abruptly froze. Its pupils widened, filled with disbelief and fear. A terror beyond words nearly drove it to the brink of collapse.
The dazzling light swept over its entire body. Wherever it passed, its mental form seemed to be assimilated, gradually turning into brilliant specks of light.
It all happened quickly, and it was over just as fast.
When the nine-colored light vanished, everything returned to normal. The Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon was gone, as though nothing had happened.
"Phew~"
Gu Yuena let go and breathed a long sigh of relief. She felt much lighter now.
But it wasn't over. The Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon's Dragon Pearl was still inside Xu Lanqing, and she had to deal with it as soon as possible.
She withdrew from Xu Lanqing's Sea of Consciousness and returned to her body.
Her long, curled lashes twitched. She opened her eyes, shimmering with purple light, and looked utterly exhausted. She had spent too much spiritual power.
With no time to rest, she waved her right hand again. Vast Soul Power gathered at her fingertips as she fluidly traced mysterious runes in the air before Xu Lanqing. One by one, the completed runes drifted down onto the purple Dragon Pearl in Xu Lanqing's dantian.
Then she flicked her left hand, and the purple Left Arm Soul Bone she held quietly merged into Xu Lanqing's body.
The Dragon Pearl had already fused with Xu Lanqing, so removing it was impossible. Sealing it was the only option now.
And the Left Arm Soul Bone belonging to the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon was undoubtedly the best material for the seal. If she succeeded, not only would Xu Lanqing be safe, he would even turn this disaster into a blessing.
As the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon's Left Arm Soul Bone fused with him, Xu Lanqing's fair left arm turned deep purple.
Gu Yuena controlled the Soul Bone's fusion with her left hand. With her right, she finished the seal. Carefully, she drew out the Dragon Pearl's power, thread by thread, then transferred it into the Soul Bone.
The process was long.
She watched intently, daring not to let up for even a moment. Beads of sweat ran down her cheeks, gathered on her rounded chin, and finally dripped onto Xu Lanqing's collar.
As the last thread of Soul Power was transferred and the seal fused with it, she checked everything over and over. Only then did she finally relax.
"Buzz~"
A purple-gold Soul Ring emerged from Xu Lanqing's body. It circled him once, then disappeared.
Seeing the results of her work, Gu Yuena's eyes curved as a lovely smile unconsciously lifted the corners of her mouth. The entire space seemed to brighten with it.
Suddenly, she staggered. Her vision swam, and she quickly sat cross-legged to meditate and recover.
"That took so much out of me. I nearly exhausted myself. This is the first time I've been this tired in all these years."
Gu Yuena gazed at the handsome face of the boy. Her cheeks puffed up as she grumbled, "This is all your fault. Nothing good ever happens when I'm around you."
Words weren't enough to vent her frustration. She reached out, pulled his cheeks apart, and let them spring back. After giving them a good kneading, she finally stopped.
But as she looked at the sleeping Xu Lanqing, she couldn't take her clear, gemlike purple eyes off him. Confusion crept into her heart and clouded her brow...
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